Finding new ingredients is always so much fun! Tasting it, figuring it out, finding ways to use it...the adventure part of culinary experimentation!
Chef Eddie uses smoked paprika in a variety of dishes at the restaurant and I absolutely love the flavour of it. Tonight David suggested ribs for supper so it got me thinking that putting some smoked paprika on them would be a great idea. I rubbed kosher salt and pepper on them, then rubbed some of this beautiful deep red spice(smoked paprika) into the ribs. I put together some chili sauce, paprika, and decided to use some Irish Whiskey as the liquid in my rib sauce. Instead of boiling the ribs first I decided to sear them in the oven at a very high temperature for a short time, then add the sauce, cover them and let them cook away. When they were done we enjoyed them with a baked potato for simplicity and some brocollini. We had been given a gift of a beautiful 2005 Amarone Della Valpolicella (Bolla)- a beautiful full bodied red wine that went well with the strong flavours of the ribs. It was a lovely simple and rich Labour Day evening supper.
Smokey Whiskey Ribs
1.5 kg or 2.5 lbs of pork side ribs
2 ½ cups of chili sauce - 1 bottle
2 heaping tbsp honey
1 heaping tbsp of smoked paprika
3 crushed garlic cloves
Salt and pepper
Splash of soy sauce or ketjap manis (about 1 tbsp)
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
½ cup Whiskey
Heat oven to 450
Put about 2 tbsp of olive oil in your cast iron pot and heat in the oven for about 5 minutes
Salt and pepper the ribs and rub some smoked paprika on them.
Place ribs in the hot pan and put into the oven for 20 minutes, turning them over after 10 minutes.
Mix chili sauce, tbsp of paprika, crushed garlic, ketjap manis, Dijon and whiskey together.
Turn oven temperature to 375
Pour over the ribs now that they have cooked in the hot oven and begun to seal over. Put the cover on your cast iron dutch oven and place into the oven . Cook for 1 ½ hour and check to see if they are tender yet. If they are a bit dry you can add a bit more chili sauce or another splash of whiskey or add a little water. Re-cover and cook for another ½ hour.
They should be flavourful and very tender, falling off the bone.
